Intel is readying its first processor refresh for its CULV platform, or Consumer Ultra Low Voltage, which to most people are known as thin and light notebooks. The refresh will bring with it many more dual core processors, especially for more entry level machines and this is something that is likely to make the platform even more appealing than it already is.
The top and bottom segment will be kept as it is today, with the SU9x00-series being the high-end CULV parts and the Celeron 7xx-series being the entry level models. However, the three segments in-between will all be updated with new processor models.
The Core 2 Solo SU3x00-series will be replaced with the Core 2 Duo SU7x00-series which means that for similar money, you’ll get a dual core CPU instead of a single core. The Pentium SU2x00-series gets upgraded to the Core 2 Duo or possibly Pentium Dual Core SU4x00-series which again is an upgrade from single to dual core. Although Digitimes is reporting the SU4x00-series as a Core 2 Duo, the only SU4x00 parts so far is the Pentium Dual Core SU4100 which makes us think that there might be some discrepancies in terms of the models names here.
Finally there will be a new dual core Celeron alternative and this time around Digitimes is suggesting that it’ll be the SU3x00-series, while on roadmaps we’ve seen, it should be the SU2x00-series with hte first dual core CULV Celeron processor being the SU2300.
Names aside, the new processors should start to appear from next month and the various SKU’s should be rolled out between then and the end of the year. We can’t see many people going for the single core alternatives once the new dual core models are rolled out, despite the possibility of slightly lower clock speeds and less cache memory in some cases, as the extra CPU core should make up for the difference in most applications.
With Windows 7 around the corner, it makes even more sense for Intel to add a range of more powerful dual core processors, as the operating system should be able to take even better advantage of the extra CPU core, despite Windows 7′s generally lower system requirements than Windows Vista.
